Back to Learning at School

Arthur Miller

Teacher	Something from Rotorua that had an impact on you.	What have you done in your school as a result of this impact?
TM	The simplicity and flexibility of interactive collaboration tools such as Wallwisher and Voicethread.	Used Wallwisher as a classroom tool for collating ideas and questions at the beginning of an inquiry and then as a tool for reviewing where we are in our quest for knowledge and understanding of what is being investigated. The Wallwisher walls are embedded directly on the class blog so anyone can contribute.
Sandy Glenda	The potential of the ineractive mobi system for junior classes	We invited Sitech to demonstrate the interactive mobi - they loaned us one and teachers are using it. It works the same as an interactive whiteboard, acceses teh internet and has a range of programmes. Instead of working at the screen children manipulate a "mobi" which is a slate and a pen - it feels it belongs in a junior room and even with the entrie teaching station it is cheaper than an interactive whiteboard.

Eskdale

Teacher	Something from Rotorua that had an impact on you.	What have you done in your school as a result of this impact?
Justin	I was really impressed with the seminar on Microsoft one note as a one stop organiser.	I am trying to implement it as an everyday tool, to get myself organised.It is taking a while to learn all the facets of it's operation but I can see it has definate potential to save time.
Angela	I thought the Howick Intermediate School presentation was great because they demonstrated students learning and gave great examples of how to use different learning programmes in a practical easy way. The "take home disk" has been excellent as it includes examples and downloadable programmes you can use	Inquiry and Art

Greenmeadows

Teacher	Something from Rotorua that had an impact on you.	What have you done in your school as a result of this impact?
Mark	Having the opportunity to see a whole range of e-portfolios in practical use was very valuable. Theworkshop I attended was very informative, and I was able to see the potential in this form of communciation of student 'progress and achievement' (where have we read this phrase before...?).	A form of e-portfolio has been trialled with a small group of students and some very positive developments have been evident. We were fortunate that our school website had an e-portfolio function ready to use immediately, so 'instant' development was possible.
Jonette	The effect that technology can have on the way we deliver education in the classroom. Cameras and voice recorders are effective language tools.	We have organised and delivered some PD sharing ways to use word, paint, powerpoint, cameras and voice recording to storyboard. We have also shared the use of Voicethread with the staff. The Junior Syndicate have began to actively use the computers in their classrooms using these programmes. The senior rooms have started to share their digital books that include voice recording.
Lyndsey	I was amazed at the wealth of resources under the Google umbrella. The applications have endless possibilities in the classroom. I was also very keen to view the interactive whiteboards on display and learn about the possibilities these open up within the classroom. I was also inspired by the lectures by Tony Ryan and Karen Boyes on thinking and learning. The science of learning really fascinates me. Using the latest ICT technology tunes into the way 21st century children learn and we should soon see the learning gains being made.	Google applications have been shared with the staff at a pd session and have been used in some classrooms. We have also looked at teaching chn to be critical of the information they find on the web. Our second set of 16 'cows' (netbooks) was delivered some weeks ago and are being used enthusiastically in all syndicates. Our wireless network has also been strengthened by the purchase of a new Ruckus (and another is on the way) so that internet and school server access within all classrooms is becoming much more stable. Four new Activeboards are also being installed this week.

Meeanee

Teacher	Something from Rotorua that had an impact on you.	What have you done in your school as a result of this impact?
Kelly	The two sessions I found the most valuable were the digistore workshop and the Tony Ryan workshop.	Tony Ryan's ideas are used in my classroom frequently especially in inquiry learning and relating that to ICT. The digistore workshop enlighted me to what is online that we can access already. We used this the other evening in a staff meeting with Liz. Using our new activboards we can incorporate digistore into our curriculum especially maths at the present and will look deeper into other areas.
Gill	Range of hardware options and the opportunity to see and discuss these with companies. Excellent workshops which clarified thinking and helped set priorities for ICT use in our school. The amazing range of free software also made the mind boggle - oh to have more time to spend on my laptop experimenting!	Taken advantage of Promethean's offer and purchased 2 IWB's. Installed one in the senior school which has been interesting as our training does not begin till next month. Have learnt to deal with problems as they have arisen with more than a little help from a Yr 6 Digikid who has risen from the ashes.Second IWB will be installed in soon to be upgraded classroom. A visualiser and mobi along with interactive 42"LCD has gone into our junior class this month and initial training took place this week. DLO's from Digistore are being utilised by Yr4-8 as maintenance activities or motivators - especially in mathematics. All staff now have the latest laptops which is speeding up access and quality. Yr 4-6 children have improved thier digital camera skills following some upskilling of my own at Learning@School. All staff have a copy of the Howick Intermediate CD to access tutorials on ICT learning tools.

Porritt

Teacher	Something from Rotorua that had an impact on you.	What have you done in your school as a result of this impact?
TP	The use of Google Apps as a classroom tool and also its use for some schoolwide admin roles.	Set up a new school website using Google Sites using my personal Google account. Have yet to switch the school to Google Apps. That will require some thinking before we do that.
RF	Attending 3 fantastic junior sessions that were jam packed with exciting & practical ideas. Having time to meet as a cluster to collaborate and plan.	Using a lot of these ideas in the classroom. My class are using comic life to create recipe sheets and posters. They are also making digital books for a reading activity and are using a variety of website and digistore activities as part of their reading and maths taskboard. Sharing ideas & websites with staff.
DF	The committment and entusiasm of the cluster team meembers. I attended sessions that foccused on classroom teaching withn the intent of understanding issues that teachers may face.	Hopefully passed on the committment of the cluster leaders and the expectations of the contract. Highlighted that this is a three year contract and that support is readily available within the cluster. Offered support to the lead team at Porritt School as they look to guide our teachers through the contract.

Reignier

Teacher	Something from Rotorua that had an impact on you.	What have you done in your school as a result of this impact?
Sheryl	ICT need not take the heart out of education and there are many efficient ways teachers, with self confessed limitations, can become more capable and use ICT meaningfully in their teaching and learning programmes.	Registered myself and my students as Superclubsplus members of the pilot programme in NZ. This cyber safety training ground has been used very enthusistically and effectively and we have currently infected 4 other classes and teachers who are also now registered and using the programme.
Julia	The power of students becoming the teachers made a big impact on me. The scope shown for children to drive the learning and be empowered to learn through teaching and modelling.	Discussion with teachers around finding ways in which we can get children to teach others and becoming teachers. Trialling tech wizards in school to assist teachers and students in using technology

Taradale Intermediate

Teacher	Something from Rotorua that had an impact on you.	What have you done in your school as a result of this impact?
Leah	The varied uses of robotics in many curriculum areas - not just as a stand alone activity. Particularly as a motivating feature.	Put in funding application for purchase of robotics to use in school. Looked at ways to incorporate robotics into various areas around the school.
Robyn	The wonderful ICT resource that we have in Digistore that so many people know so very little about. The equation from the digistore workshop: PT+ICT=EPT Poor teaching + ICT = Expensive Poor Teaching!	Talked to a number of staff that I know would be interested in using this resource within their teaching and learning. Set up learning pathways for our extension and A maths classes so that we now have: 6 teachers who are using this with their classes and 120 students who know of this resource and how to access it.
Greg	Discussions with IT industry experts and Lead Teachers of various schools related to personal technologies in the classroom. What impact does it/ could it have for students learning?	As a result of discussions and ideas shared in breakouts I currently have 6 students who are trialling bringing their personal technologies (laptop, iTouches) into the classroom and utilizing them ways both teacher guided and student initiated. These students are enthusing and engaging other students. Tech X has also been initiated at Taradale Intermediate with a keen group of students willing to learn and play the part of 'Students as Teachers'.
Dennis	The power of the collective. Every key person in our cluster was present and this provided us with the best possible start to our ICTPD journey	Followed up on the use of a hands on expert /practioner who could give us the real oil on starting our KnowledgeNet set up. Also we now have a website that is useful, functional and easy to manage!

Facilitators

Teacher	Something from Rotorua that had an impact on you.	What have you done in your school as a result of this impact?
John	I changed my views on eportfolios both from reasons for doing them and the potential and wisdom of electronic portfolios.	I have set up test classes using Mahara's My School My Future, Google Spaces, live@edu and UltraNet. Very early stages yet and I am learning things that should provide useful support for Knowledgenet users also.
Liz	I went to two workshops aimed at new facilitators.	I set up the wiki and am investigating ways of making it a more useful learning tool. Also looking at the value of various freeware and will introduce it in the "Try one a Fortnight Section".